Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum help, movers lost legs for my baby grand piano

seeking ideas/advise,

movers lost 2 out of 3 legs for my Weber baby grand piano WG 175. How is beyond me because these were movers contracted specially to move pianos.
I can not estimate the value of this piano for replacement reimbursement (which moving company will haggle the price/value) nor can I find the legs to at least use the piano.
Piano is in the middle of my living room until moving company sends an "inspector" out to verify the situation, so a major eye sore

Can anyone advise if and where I can find the other two legs?
can you suggest how I can estimate the replacement price of this piano? MSRP is 17,500 new per online google search. This is not a new piano, but in EXCELLENT condition.

any suggestions if anyone experienced something similar during move, much appreciated. thank you! ap

Hi
What a shame! I would recommend also posting your question on the piano tuner-tech forum, as techs have supplier information you may not receive here

Oh no, what a nightmare!!! I'm so, so sorry!!

Where are you? (you could say general region if you don't want to give specifics)

The first thing I would recommend is to contact a local piano tech, for two reasons. 1) maybe that person could help you put a dollar value on replacing this piano. 2) that person could also maybe tell you the likelihood of finding replacement legs that would not be horribly mismatched.

What color/finish is your piano? Also, do you have the serial number?

Also, at 175, that's a parlor grand, not a baby grand. Call it a parlor, that sounds better too!

Lastly, lean (hard) on the moving company to 1) get someone out to your house ASAP and 2) find the actual legs they lost.

They need to get to you right away, because you not only don't have the use of your piano as it is, you also don't really have the use of the room where it currently is (it's not like you're going to entertain in there with a legless piano as an "eyesore")

The problem you will face is that movers' liability is generally limited by law, unless you bought extended insurance. You may be able to get your tech to order legs, but that will take a while, especially if it is a finish other than black.

This thread causes me to feel I could never move again! Yet when you think about it, it could happen so easily..

I don’t understand how losing piano legs could happen easily:
- they are still in the original location
- they are still on the delivery truck

It shows a lack of attention to detail to lose multiple large items in a piano move. Not only are legs not small, there are three of them. I hope the OP writes tons of negative reviews all over the internet.

thank you everyone for your response!
I've recently moved to Long Beach CA. I will use the term Parlor grand versus baby grand, thanks for the tip.
It is black, so maybe I may have some luck in finding the legs that match. I don't have the serial number because piano is leaned against the wall covered with storage blankets exactly where/how movers left it, and I've not wanted to touch it until the inspector comes out to inspect it. This was a military move, so the subcontracting piano moving company got paid a pretty penny to move my piano. I'm just upset that they couldn't even do the One job they were hired to do (really, how do you lose 2/3 legs?!?). I know i will have to go through a lot of hassle to justify the current value of this piano which will take a lot of time and i don't even know where to begin because this is not a brand new piano. I will contact the local piano technician as a start. thank you for your suggestions!

I believe that model is still in production, so you should be able to get replacement legs. But give them a chance to find the legs.

Well, OP Rosebay...

What a frightful mess, and on your very first post, too. I hope things will start looking better for you very soon. It seems to me that you have already gotten the best of advice, and I really urge you to follow it up promptly and fully. Keep a log of these calls, detailing date and time, identity of the company and person you spoke with, and the substance of the conversation. Supplement this record with any paperwork that has been generated--- a copy is ok. I might add that if you have renters' or homeowners' insurance, a call to your broker might help you out. The more official parties start calling the mover, the more incentive they may feel to do something, anything, to get the burr out from under their saddle. So to speak.

It could be worse. Most of the time, we hear about movers dropping someone's expensive grand piano, leaving it unplayable... but the legs still worked fine.

See, it's better to laugh than to cry. A little screaming might help you, though--- it might wake up someone at the moving company. These places have presidents and stockholders, and complaint departments. They may be hoping you don't find out about this.

In the end--- and I'm hoping it will not come to this--- you can bring a civil action in Small Claims Court. You will have the file in hand already, to support your claim. No lawyers are allowed in this kind of court, but of course you can consult one outside--- and don't forget to add their fee into your claim. The manufacturer may very well want to help you. Let us hope they keep offices in the US, for that will certainly be easier than calling or writing the fab in China (or close by).

You may not appreciate it as of your very first contact with PianoWorld, but a lot of people do read this forum, and you will have quite a few of them wishing you well, and following this thread. It is kind of weird to speak of it (lacking a meaningful language to do so), but you can feel it. You are definitely not alone.

Best of luck! Don't forget to let us know what happens.

Since your piano is black, there is some hope that you could find some replacement legs from a black piano that someone decides not to repair.... Or, if you have a high gloss finish, it would probably be not all that difficult to get some legs and have them refinished. Although, you might want to replace all three legs so that they match....

I am so mad on your behalf. This is unforgivable. Doubly so for a military move.


So, assuming the piano itself is not damaged, you might not have to justify the value *if* you can get replacement legs that match closely enough. In that case, you would want the moving company and/or their insurer to guarantee you that they will pay the full repair costs...

Also, they should pay all the moving costs -- the cost of the move that lost the legs, and the cost of moving the piano to a shop for leg replacement and any need refinishing, and back to your house.

They should also pay a rental instrument for the time while you are without out your own instrument.

Regarding the value of your piano, did you buy it new? Have you had it regularly tuned and maintained? If so (or even if you bought it used, but maintained it well) I think you should be able make the case for the value of it.

Also, I forgot to ask.... You're not a piano teacher are you?? If you are, obviously this raises a whole bunch of other problems -- for the moving company I mean!

Please keep us posted on how it develops and be sure to post again if you have questions.

Sorry to hear this. If you can't find the originals or the Weber factory can't provide replacements (which the moving company should pay for) Steve's Piano Service does sell generic piano legs. Here's the link:

http://www.stevespianoservice.com/Online-Piano-Parts-Catalog/grand-piano-legs-and-pedal-lyre.htm

I hope you're able to turn this miserable situation around.

Here is the Weber piano ‘contact us’ link— give them a try

http://weberpiano.com/support/

Well I certainly was not making excuses for the movers losing the piano legs!.Movers drop pianos,I have read of this actually happening,so yes its possible they were left on the lawn of the owners previous home.Someone then else threw them away,
not knowing who they belonged to or what they were.(perhaps table legs?) Perhaps they are still the movers truck as you say.
In fact when we had our piano moved I worried that the mover would lose the screws for the piano legs,or for the pedals or they would lose one of the pedals.Thank goodness my worries did not extend to actually losing the legs.😕

So now you know why I said yes, it could happen easily.All you need is one sleepy mover.Worries about losing parts of a grand piano,when moving are I am sure are not confined to myself.I hope they find the legs!

Here is a straight leg that would need to be fitted and hardware/caster added; https://gemmpianosupply.com/collections/hardware-parts/products/grand-piano-leg-straight-tapered

Here they are on eBay, but again, would need to be fitted and casters added. Grand piano leg

I'm sure they can be found, but you, or the moving company, will have to search for them. Best case scenario is to purchase the OEM parts from the manufacturer, if possible. Or, find the legs they lost...

Good luck!

Rick

No idea what the terms of insurance are, but I'd start by getting Weber to quote a price for two (or three) legs and let the movers decide whether they will make good on it.

Upgrade to these!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3534794284...tomid=776541522-16-1818035029.1627614248

The top of each brand profile in the Piano Buyer has contact information for either the manufacturer or the US distributor.

The current Weber W175 is not necessarily identical to the former WG175. Do you have any idea how old your WG175 is? Was it new when you purchased it? Of course, the serial number will help to clarify this.

I’m so sorry for your trouble. Military moves can be awful. I would do the steps outlined by our knowledgeable friends you’ve received. Absolute worst case would be to replace all the legs and the pedal lyre and then get your tech to install them (unfortunately this could cost more than the piano originally did.)


Piano legs don’t just disappear. The legs are somewhere. Plus, two of three piano legs aren’t easy to sell or pawn, so that’s good news. A manager or supervisor from the moving company can find the specific truck and the specific clowns who lost the legs. Sorry for the insult to professional clowns.

Keep us posted on what happens. I’ll keep you in my prayers. It sounds the first episode of Beavis and Butthead Move Pianos.

What a nightmare. Please check out this link regarding filing a claim (for a military move): https://www.militaryonesource.mil/moving-housing/moving/planning-your-move/filing-a-pcs-claim/ .

If your personal property is insured through USAA (or anyone else), I would contact the insurance company. They can sometimes be more effective in dealing with the other party than you as an individual.